Splash screen

If you reported the device as stolen and now how info about it shouldn't contact the police? They may want to find this person. If he has stolen yours he probably has stolen others.

If the person contacting you bought the device from the thief he too should be found. This contact could be a big break in a criminal investigation beyond your loss.

Call the police, tell them. like above, get the fool that took it.

We did call the police , he or they broke in the house by busting the patio door , the unit was on the kitchen counter they grabed it and ran . They told me that there was not much to be done since they only took that piece not worth a lot as far as insurance and that it probably would end up in some garbage can or in a snow bank . But the next unit will get the same tweaks .

I would let the police know about the contact. If he sent an e-mail it may be possible for the police to have it traced. You may give them a lead to a much larger network of criminals.

We recently had a whole group of adults arrested for stealing things from open cars in suburban developments. They were caught when they tried to fence the goods.

Have you wondered if, maybe, the person who contacted you was only doing exactly as you'd requested with your splash screen message? Maybe the thief tossed it when he/she couldn't get it to work and someone really did find it and is trying to get it back to you.

I think I'd have arranged to pay the reward as promised (why offer one otherwise?) and either have someone a distance away taking a video of the transaction. If the cops weren't interested you'd at least have your GPS back for $20.

Cheers

Let's assume for a minute that the email WAS sent by the thief. Do you really want to piss off the person who has already shown no hesitation in smashing in your window to steal something!

Don't be surprised if you come home one night and your house is burglarized again.

Or you find him in your easy chair drinking your beer waiting for you? Call Your County Prosecutor office, let them decide what to do. The IP address can be traced from where and whom sent the email.
(do not erase the email)

Agree with all the comments.

I would have replied back "thanks for finding my GPS, I'll pay you $100 cash. where can we meet?"

And then arrange to have the cops ready to arrest the guy near the meeting area.

Good to know the splash screen & garmin lock works though!!!

For what it's worth.... My personal opinion is that putting warning and info messages on the splash screen is cute, but a waste of time. Realistically, it's not going to prevent it from getting stolen and when your GPS is gone you're never going to see it again.

Garmin Lock on the other hand, "could" be a valuable asset. When your GPS gets snached, at least you'll have some level of protection for any personal info you have stored such as names, addresses, and even phone numbers that can be found in many personal waypoints and poi's. You may even have phone contacts stored in the GPS if your device supports it. But don't get a false sense of security.... Even Garmin Lock is a waste of time if you've got personal info on a data card.

O.K., I bought a 550 off eBay for $75!! Woo Hoo great price. When I received it, I found it was locked and the warning label with the owners info on it. The owner had a $50 reward on it. I called the owner and told him if he gives me his address, or an address he wants me to ship it to, I would mail it the next day. I figured it is the least I can do, I couldn't get a hold of the seller, so I figured it was stolen. Well after explaining where I got it and showed him the auction he agreed to send me the reward after he got it back. I figured I'd be out only $30 or so including shipping. Two weeks later I got a letter in the mail with a check for $150. It seems he paid back my cost for the auction and shipping, plus the reward. I had sat and broken the Garmin lock code in a matter of minutes. Some people are lazy and use 1234. If he had your attitude, he would be out the 550 and I would have an unlocked GPS.

A joke? Are you serious?

Wow how clueless can people be...

Ever hear of something called "common sense"???

Not everyone gets their GPS stolen. Some people are forgetful and accidentally leave their GPS at a restaurant, business, etc. Sometimes honest citizens (yes there are actually honest people out there, imagine!!) will find the GPS, turn it on, see the contact info, and actually try to return the GPS!! Isn't that a nice idea? Ever hear of Lost and Found?

And the poster right below you explained how he in fact returned a Garmin GPS thanks to the splash screen info!!

Man it's truly amazing how clueless some folks are!!

Great story!! Kudos to you and the owner!!

Seems like having contact info is not such a useless thing on a GPS at all, isn't it?

I hope the owner learned a lesson or two about using a better security code for the Garmin lock as well.

I sent a letter with the Lock code on it. On how you should not use common number like 1234,5678 and so. Or the phone # on the GPS!! I really didn't need another GPS, but I saw the action was in the last hour or so and only a bid of $50. SO I used esnipe to hit it for $75.03 in the last 3 seconds, I didn't think I would win. (Of course if I would have read the auction I might not have bid at all.) It said it was locked and he couldn't remember the code. He also didn't have the mounts. But I didn't read that until I got the 550 in the mail and went back to see why I didn't get any mounts. Lesson learned : Read all of auction BEFORE bidding.

LOL thanks for the nice story.

I label all of my devices, such as my cameras, ipods, cellphones, computers, etc. Anything that is mobile and could be potentially lost, I label it with my contact info. That way if I accidentally lose it somewhere, at least if some honest person finds it, I may get it back.

My cellphones have auto-lock (Blackberry, etc), but the camera does not have auto-lock or security codes. It would be nice if all electronics gadgets had a security feature like a lock code.

Well, I'm certainly not clueless and I totally agree when using the feature to get a "lost" unit back. Apparently my first paragraph was not clear enough to the casual observer. I was comenting spicifically on the use of the splash screen in the context of a practical "theft deterent" or "theft recovery" strategy. Sorry I upset folks.

Anytime I have looked at a lost and found box, all I have seen is gloves, hats & bifocals. Gotta say never a GPSr or anything of value.

I actually found a couple things of value and turned them in.

I travel a lot and found a mp3 player at the airport near the luggage area once. It didn't have any identifiers on it, so I turned it into the lost and found. If it had ownership info on it I would have called the # and let the owner know I was turning it into the lost and found.

I also found a digital camera once. The battery was dead, and no contact #. So I turned it into the lost and found as well.

My dad who's a surgeon at a hospital, has found PDAs, blackberries, memory sticks, etc and has turned them into the hospital lost and found.

It's amazing how much stuff gets lost. And not once have we seen it labelled with owner's info. Even if one had been labelled, the owner would have been called at once and notified of the find.

Well I'm glad you see the value of the splash screen. Even if it's stolen by a thief, there's no guarantee the thief will simply chuck it into the trash. The thief may be too lazy and leave it in his / her possession to figure out what to do with it.

Then when the thief gets busted by the cops, the cops may be able to identify the owner and contact the owner of the find. It has been reported on here that actually has happened before.

I'm glad you see the value of such information. It is far from useless and I would never tell anyone that it's a joke to put your contact info on anything you value and own.

I've found cell phones and returned them, contacted the owner by letting the phone call "home". But if the owner had tried to show me how cute he was by having the phone call the cops when I told it to dial home, or something else equally lame, I expect I would just discard the phone, perhaps making a few international calls first.

I've never found a GPS receiver, but if I did I would try to return it. But if I powered it up and the splash screen tried to con me by telling me that "tracking was enabled" and the cops were zeroing in on me, I expect that I would resent it so much that I might rethink returning the GPS. Similarly if the contact information were absurdly vague, or if I let the GPS guide me to "home" and it was in the middle of the desert somewhere with no buildings around.

Some people try to be very cute and clever with the splash screen, but by the time a thief sees the splash screen they are not likely to get the GPS back, and if they are dishonest and deceptive they might not get it back if a generally honest person finds the GPS either.

It is also worth noting that while you can have the GPS lie and report a false location for "home", it isn't very hard for anyone with knowledge of the GPS to look at the track log and figure out where home most likely is. It will be one of the locations that the blue lines converge and that shows a lot of random irregular movement as the GPSr first gets a lock. So unless you plan on clearing the track log right before the GPS is stolen, then having the GPS lie about where is home may do you a lot more harm than good.